Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Neuschwanstein A little over a year ago, when I posted my goodbye on this site a few days before leaving to Germany, I included a picture of the Neuschwanstein Castle.  That wasn't a picture I'd taken.  Just one found online that I thought would look good along with what I wrote.  Ever since then, I've wanted to go see that castle in person.  It seemed like everyone else I work with here had already gone, but I kept putting off the trip because I didn't want to drive all the way down there to visit it by myself. Finally, yesterday Marcela and I made the five hour or so drive down to Hohenschwangau to see the castle once and for all. To be honest, I didn't realize until just a few days ago that there are actually two castles in that town.  Neuschwanstein, which everyone has seen photos of, and also Royal Hohenschwangau castle, which pre-dates Neuschwanstein and was where King Ludwig II watched the construction of his fairy tale castle up on the mountain opposite. The drive down into Bavaria was amazing.  We had tremendous weather and it was worth the driving time just to see the mountains start looming into view.  We took a whole slew of pictures, but trust me, none of them come close to capturing the stunning panoramic views that part of Germany has to offer.  As Marcela put it, "This place poops Germany."  Seriously, who wouldn't want to live in one of these houses and have that kind of a view out your bedroom window? So anyway, we decided to buy the combined ticket for both castles which, if you're thinking about making the trip, gives you specific times to tour the castles.  You have to tour Royal Hohenschwangau first and then make your way over to Neuschwanstein either by bus, horse carriage, or on foot.  In between tours we only had an hour and fifteen minutes to make it over to Neuschwanstein, which with the long line to catch a bus, gave us only a few minutes to spare. It was worth it, though.  From our first view of Neuschwanstein Castle up on the mountain as we arrived in Hohenschwangau, to the incredible vantage point from Mary's Bridge strung over a steep gorge (you can barely make out the bridge in this shot taken from inside the castle) from where you have a view of Neuschwanstein which was hard to believe, even to the extremely tasty dinner and beer had at the Hotel Lisl at the foot of the castles, everything was great.  Even the restroom stalls inside Neuschwanstein had an incredible view.  Best "quality time" I've ever spent on the toilet. I will warn you:  visiting both castles is strenuous.  They warn you ahead of time that getting to the castles is tough on the disabled, since even though there are bus and horse carriage services, they don't drop you off right in front of the castles.  You still have to do some pretty steep walking, not to mention all the stairs that have to be climbed within the castles themselves.  But if you can find the time and energy, it's definitely worth it.  That and maybe talk the ticket person into spreading out the time in between castle tours a little more than the 75 minutes we had. So for what are some of the most beautiful views in the world, try and visit Neuschwanstein at least once in your life. Here's a few of the prettier photos we took, or you can go to the small gallery I created from the trip.                         Related links: My Neuschwanstein Photo Gallery:  some of the photos we took on the trip Schloss Neuschwanstein:  the official website of the castle 6:11:24 PM     |

Tribal Sovereignty For Dummies Or at the very least, by a dummy.  Here's an audio clip of President Bush being asked what he thinks tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century.  The best part of the clip, aside from his profoundly insightful answer, is the sound of reporters laughing at him in the background. Yep, I'm proud to call him my president.  With his firm grasp of the issues at hand, with his uncanny knack for breaking down the complexities of the world and making them palatable for the average Joe, how could I not give him my vote in November? Or maybe not. Related link: Bushisms:  W and his way with words 10:48:56 AM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.